Pack-opening apparatus.



c. w. BRAY. PACK OPENING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, 1904.

Patented May 2, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wn'MssEs INVEN'I'OR G. W. BRAY.

PACK OPENING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 1, 1904.

991,195. Patentd May 2,1911.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR Car G. W. BRAY.

PACK OPENING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, 1904.

991,195.- A Patented May 2,1911.

- s SHEBTSPSHEET a.

- furnaces from which the bars are fed and nnirnn sra' ns n orricnCHARLES W. BRAY, 0F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN SHEET& TIN PLATE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

PACK-OPENING- APPARATUS.

99L195. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 2, 11911,Application filed. July 1, 1904. Serial No. 214,984. To all whom it mayconcern: of the pack to carry it forwardly into the Be it known that I,CHARLES W. BRAY, doubling rolls. The blade being in lowered of llttsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylposition, the pack feeds forwardlyagainst Vania, have invented a new and useful Packsuitable stops 26 andthe blade then pushes Open1ng Apparatus, of which the followtheintermediate portion upwardly into the mg is afull, clear, and exactdescription, doubling rolls. From the upper rolls the reference beinghad to the accompanying doubled pack passes through guide rolls 27drawings, forming part of this specification, and 28 and thence over thefeed table 29 in Wl11Cl1 to a shear indicated at 30. At this pointFigure 1 is a diagrammatic plan View of the scrap end of the pack issheared off. a plant constructed in accordance with my From the shearthe pack passes to any one invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side of aset of continuous heating furnaces 31 elevation of the same; Figs. 3 and4 are through which the packs are fed continucross sections of thedoubling apparatus; ously from the entrance opening 32 to the Fig. 5 isa side elevation on a larger scale outlet opening 33 at the other end.From of the opening apparatus; Fig. 6 is a top these reheating furnacesthe packs are taken plan view of the same; and Fig. 7 is a deto any oneof the ordinary single finishing tall View of the pass for thecorrugating mills 34 of which I show three, one for rolls. each furnace.In case sheets of heavier My invention relates to the rolling of gagesare to be rolled I do not double the sheets and is designed to provide anew and pack; and to prevent doubling I preferably improved apparatuswhereby packs of sheets introduce a curved guide or stop 35 below may berapidly and cheaply produced with the rolls 24 of the doubler. Thiscurved a small amount of hand labor. guide causes the pack to feedupwardly In the drawings, referring to the form of through the doublerrolls without doubling, Figs. 1 an 2, 2, 2 are continuous heating thepack thence passing on to the shears where the crop ends may be sheared011'. from which they drop upon roller tables 3 and pass to the table 4,whence they enter a continuous or tandem mill. I have shown six sets ofrolls, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 arranged in tandem in this mill, the metalfeeding forward in the same line through the successive steps and thenentering a matcher 11. The successive sheets are fed into this matcherone above the other and are thus matched and fed forwardly into thesuccessive sets of rolls 12 and 13. The pack passing forwardly throughthese rolls 12 and 13 then enters an opening device. This opening deviceconsists of a pair of corrugating rolls, 14 and 15, following which arebending rolls 16, 17, 18 and 19 which are arranged to bend thecorrugated pack first in one direction and then in the opposite. Fromthese bending rolls, the pack passes under the guide roll 19 and entersflattening rolls 20 and 21 which straighten and flatten the sheets ofthe pack. From the rolls 20 and 21 the pack passes forwardly over feedmechanism 22 to the doubler-in line therewith. The doubler is providedwith upper rolls 23, lower rolls 24;, and a vertically reciprocatingblade 25 which acts upon the central part apparatus are preferablyyieldingly backed by springs 36 having adjusting screws 37 by which thepressure may be regulated. The bearings of the rollers, 16, 18, and 19are adjustable by means of screws 38. The rolls 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and19 are all corrugated as indicated in Fig. 6. In order to preventstretching of the metal during the corrugating of it, I preferably shapethe rolls 14:, 15, so that their surfaces are closer together at thecenters of the rolls and the pass is slightly widened toward each end asindicated on an exaggerated scale in Fig. 7. This allows the drawing ofthe metal from the side portions toward the center during thecorrugating operation and prevents stretching or pulling of the sheet.

The advantages of my invention result from the mechanical opening of thepacks as they are fed forward. Also from the peculiar apparatus foropening in which the pack is corrugated, bent and then flattened; andfurther from the continuous heating of the packs as they are taken fromthe shears on their Way to the singlefinishing mill. The amount of handlabor is small, as the metal feeds forwardly preferably in the same lineThe upper rolls 14 and 20 of the opening up to the shears. The apparatusis adapted for either thin sheets or sheets of heavier gage.

The opening apparatus may be placed on the opposite side of the doublerto that shown, or in any other convenient location, though I- prefer thelocation described; and such other variations as fall within the scopeof the claims may be made in the form and arrangement of the openingapparatus and other parts of the system.

I claim 1. In pack opening apparatus, a pair of corrugating rolls,having their surfaces nearer each other at the center of the rolls thanat their end portions to thereby cause the metal to draw from the sideportions toward the center, means for feeding the ack therethrough,bending rolls arranged to end the corrugated ack on lines at'an angle tothe length of t e corrugations, and means for flattening andstraightening the sheets of the pack after they leave the bending rolls;

substantially as described.

2. The herein described method of opening packs, which consists inloosening the sheets of-a pack by tion of the pack in two directionstransversely to one another, and then subsequently pressing the sheetsflat and separating them.

3. The herein described method of opening 'portion of the bending thesame porwhich consists in bending the same pack in two directions atangles to each other to loosen the sheets, and subsequently flatteningand straightening the bent pack and separating the sheets.

4. The herein described method of opening packs, which consists in firstsubjecting the pack to a corrugating action, then bending the corrugatedportion of the pack first in one direction and then in the oppositedirecpacks,

tion, and finally flattening and straightening the sheets of the pack.

5. The herein described method of opening packs, which consists insubjectin the same portion of a pack to two series 0 bendings, thedirection of one series of bendings differing from that of the other, asdescribed.

6. The herein described method of opening packs, which consists insubjecting the same portion of the pack to two series of bendings, thedirection and de me of bendin of one series differing fromt e directionand degree of bending of the other series, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, lhave hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES W. BRAY. Witnesses 2 J OHN MILLER, H. M. CoRWIN.

substantially v

